World

Russian bank chief says sanctions threaten global financial system

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The chief executive of Russia's VTB bank said on Thursday new U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine crisis were inappropriate and warned of potentially devastating consequences for the global financial system.

"Of course, these sanctions are inappropriate and of course they do not correspond to the spirit or the legal standards of existing international relations, in particular in the field of finance and banking," Andrei Kostin, whose bank is Russia's second largest, was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.

"I believe that if we do not take measures to stop such unilateral actions, we could see devastating consequences for the global financial system."